Even though the sky looks like it wants to rain and it even smells like rain and just because we want it so much right now….given that layer of bright blue beautiful atmosphere within…. it is highly Unlikely that we will see that lovely wet stuff.

Sometimes things go horribly wrong and despite our valiant and often heroic efforts we simply can’t save a calf or a cow in distress.

I used to cry and mope around for a day when we’d suffer a loss. My hubby would just get quiet. And now too, after 20 years of this lifestyle, I have learned to just get quiet.

It’s the best way we can mourn and collect our thoughts to be maybe better prepared the next time or if not our fault, to help us to “cowboy/cowgirl up” and concentrate on the rest of our herd and responsibilities that never end. We get tougher on the outside…but “the quiet” keeps us soft and caring on the inside.

Ahhhhhh…always a joyous sight to come across a cow who has just delivered twins. Lively twins too and up and ready to suck right away. Sure makes up for the drama and losses of last week when we were just getting underway with this season.

The weather forecast for tonight however, alerts us of snow to come so we decided these little treasures would be best off in the barn tonight.

How do we do that? The hubby lifts them up into the back of our ATV and FlickaRancher sits on ’em (gently, I do!) all the way to the barn. Good thing we’re into the end of the cold season because those two little poopers sure messed up my gloves!

Next we walk momma from the field through the muddy corrals right to the barn where she can sense her little ones are near. She was very willing to be guided….didn’t even mind the pooch close to her heels. She just wants her babies!!

And they wait patiently cuddled together just inside….not so sure of what-on-earth happened to them.

Scooped off the lovely straw bed, basking in the spring sun and temporarily snatched from momma, sat on by a two-legged human in a noisy machine, bounced over the choppy frozen terrain to be unceremoniously plopped into a big old barn. Momma looks at me as if to say…….”After all this “well-meaning” human intervention…it better snow tonight!!”

There is a character amongst our D heifers (the girls born in 2016). I named her Delia last year. She was headed for the sell group ( of my hubby’s choosing) and I could never understand why. She has always been quiet and friendly and the color red he always normally chooses. So it baffled me that she was ” marked ” as a “sell” while I had her at the top of my “keep” list.

Well, I’m happy to say that I scored a win last year. Just before we loaded all those young gals in the truck little Delia must have looked at Mr Berg just the right way because here she remains on our ranch amongst her other “D” sisters and has become quite the pet for both of us. She has been known to share a sip with my fella from time to time….

…as well as follow us around in the pen and even nudge us in the butt if we aren’t opening a gate quick enough to her liking.

Needless to say I will be anxious to see what she brings us this first year as a new mom. Would love to have more quiet, friendly daughters from her to “remain on the ranch”!

Here’s an easy photo challenge. This week we are to depict our Favorite Place

For me….it’s HOME. My absolute favorite place on this entire planet is my home. Nothing provides me greater comfort than this scene as I come home from anywhere…whether it be from checking pastures nearby, from vacationing faraway, from returning from anything as mundane as getting groceries. THIS is my Favorite Place

The days are drawing near whereby the calves will soon begin to come on our ranch. Each year as we personally get a little more advanced along the timeline of life we push out our calving start date later and later – in hopes that weather will be warmer and more favourable. In hopes that we will rule out the spring storms. In hopes that we can make our calving season a little more graceful on our aging bones and ligaments.

As I write tonight, we are experiencing the usual wet snows that start and stop day in and day out and frustrate our efforts to put out straw bedding for the cows comfort along with some other minor frustrations. But these are small inconveniences in the overall scheme of things because we value the beautiful moisture these types of snows provide. All I can think is how green our pastures can be if this keeps up.

As the calving season approaches we make sure to walk amongst our herd and in particular our group of heifers – the gals with the letter “D” tags – born in 2016. We want them to be as used to our presence as much as possible so we can safely move amongst them if they need our assistance during this new adventure about to enter their lives. Ideally, we trust we have made the proper bull choice and the deliveries will come naturally and without incident. But until then we stroll amongst the girls.